Subsistence Management Regulations for Public Lands in Alaska, Subpart D; Emergency Closures and Adjustments-Kuskokwim and Yukon River Drainages

This provides notice of the Federal Subsistence Board's emergency closures to protect chinook and chum salmon escapement in the Kuskokwim River drainage and chinook and summer-run chum salmon escapement in the Yukon River drainage. The Board included authority for the Federal in-season managers to lift these restrictions if salmon run strengths are higher than predicted and conservation and subsistence needs are likely to be met. This also provides notice of the Board's action to remove an unneeded requirement for the removal of the dorsal fin of chinook taken for subsistence purposes in a portion of the Yukon River. This regulatory adjustment and the closures provide an exception to the Subsistence Management Regulations for Public Lands in Alaska, published in the Federal Register on February 13, 2001. Those regulations established seasons, harvest limits, methods, and means relating to the taking of fish and shellfish for subsistence uses during the 2001 regulatory year.